Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a secretary. In high school, I took classes related to business, where I learned to type, take shorthand, and work with numbers. With this solid background, I landed my first secretarial position at an insurance company. After just one year, I landed a job at AT&T, which was a flagship position to acquire. The job was more administrative, but I was still doing the type of work I loved.
Fast forward to getting married and moving to another state, where I transferred with AT&T into a position that was quite foreign to me - a computer tech in a data center. I remember meeting with my new boss, who asked me if I had ever worked in a data center before. I said “no” tentatively, worried it could be a problem. To my shock, he said, “Good!” “You aren’t coming with any presuppositions of how a data center is run, and I can train you exactly how I want things done.”
We do that with the Lord, don’t we? He instructs us in exactly how to live a Christian life, yet we bring our own presuppositions into it…
Some may have grown up in the church, but never truly gave their lives to Christ. In this situation, the person may think that going to church each Sunday is enough to live the Christian life.
Others may have lived a life of rebellion against the Lord, thinking they could never measure up to living the Christian life.
Certain people may feel that the Christian life is no different from any other life, as long as they are a “good person”. Others may feel that unless they tick off a long legalistic list, they are not living the Christian life.
We are a fickle people who can make the Christian life so complicated, from what it means to be truly saved to living out our faith.
The Lord gives us three principles for living the Christian life… “So choose life so that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Let’s take a look at how to put these into practice.
Loving the Lord
“We love because he first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19
This verse right here says it all. God is not a boss who expects you to complete His task list. He is our Heavenly Father who loved us before the worlds began. That love came at the cost of sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so that we could live eternally with Him in Heaven.
Unfortunately, we can forget the Lord’s great love for us when we choose to live life on our own terms—doing things our way. Just like my boss didn’t want me coming to the job at the Data Center implementing protocols I learned at a previous site because it could be damaging at that site, when we act outside of God’s will for our lives, we are not only hurting ourselves, but dishonoring the price Jesus paid for our sins.
Think about the love you have for your children or your parents. You would do anything for them. Even if you have to sacrifice something, you’ll still do it. It comes so naturally. It’s not forced. There is no resentment. Our love for the Lord should be no different.
First and foremost, loving the Lord is how we live the Christian life. What does this look like in practice? To love God is not a burden we strive to carry, but a response that flows from His love toward us. As you reflect on His kindness, mercy, and faithfulness, your heart is gently drawn toward Him. Love for the Lord grows best in remembrance— remembering who He is and what He has done. Through prayer and time in the Word, your love for the Lord will continue to grow and flow out from you by your thoughts, words, and deeds.
As a result, you will truly be living the Christian life when you glorify God in this manner.
Obeying His Voice
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” — John 10:27
When we look at our own obedience to the Lord as sheep following the Good Shepherd, it doesn’t feel like obedience in the way that makes people bristle. The role of a shepherd is “a person who herds, tends, guards, and feeds sheep. Functioning as a noun, it defines one who cares for livestock, often living with them and guiding them to pasture.” Jesus, our Shepherd, instructs us, not for the sake of barking orders, but to keep us safe so that we grow in the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord. He cares for us and resides within us through the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s goal for our Christian life is to lead us safely Home to be in Heaven with Him.
Our obedience must come from a deep abiding with the Holy Spirit. He is the one who convicts us and guides us by saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 How do we do this practically? We must first die to self, not allowing those selfish desires to overrule what we “hear” the Holy Spirit telling us to do. Second, throughout the day, we must spend time in communion with the Holy Spirit, sitting in silence before Him, seeking His wisdom so that we can grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Even when our days seem crazy busy, we can take a couple of minutes to breathe and listen
to the Holy Spirit. Lastly, the Holy Spirit meets you in the Words of Scripture. Let Him “speak” to you and guide you in the way you should go.
Obedience begins with listening. The Lord still speaks—through His Word, by His Spirit, and in the quiet prompting of your heart. As you learn to recognize His voice, obedience becomes less about duty and more about trust, following the One who knows you completely.
Obedient listening will foster living the true Christian life because you will be in the center of God’s will, which not only positively affects your own personal life, but all those you come in contact with through the blessings of that communion.
Holding Fast to Him
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” — Hebrews 10:23
"Hold fast" means to cling tightly, remain steadfast, or persevere.
It is very easy to lose hope when life starts coming at you with a vengeance. One may feel that the Lord has abandoned them or doesn’t care about them. It’s very easy to shut God out during times of trial because we’ve decided He must not care about us anymore, since He’s allowing all these difficult circumstances to come our way.
In the story of Jacob, one night he wrestled with God until he received a blessing. When you think about watching a wrestling match, the two opponents are rarely, if ever, not touching each other. In fact, they are hanging onto one another, clinging tightly until the perseverance of one of them isn’t as strong as the other, at which time the wrestling match is called. The one who remained steadfast, clinging tightly without wavering, has won.
This is literally what we need to do when we face life’s difficulties. Instead of shutting God out or turning away from Him, we must draw even closer to the Lord and cling tightly to Him with perseverance until He delivers us. That deliverance might not look like what you expect, BUT we can know that God’s chosen mechanism of deliverance will be better for us than what we imagined. There will DEFINITELY be a blessing.
Life will test what you hold onto. In moments of uncertainty, cling not to your own strength, but to Him. Holding fast is an act of faith—resting your hope in God’s unchanging character. He is faithful, and He will not let you go.
Holding fast to the Lord strengthens your faith muscles. The more you exercise them, the stronger your faith becomes. The stronger your faith, the more your Christian life will testify to the hope that the Lord gives when you wholly depend on Him.
The best way to hold fast to the Lord throughout the day, especially during trials and tribulations, is through prayer. You can talk to the Lord at any time of the day. You can talk to Him throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be a formal, lofty prayer, but simply a conversation with your Savior, your Brother, your Friend.
When you incorporate these three principles into your life as a Christian, you will not only be happier and at peace, but you will be putting into practice what the Lord told the Israelites all those years ago: “This will be your life”.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to love the Lord, to obey His voice, and to hold fast to Him. In Jesus name, Amen.
Do you now struggle with any of these principles?
What will you do this week to live the Christian life as God intended it?
Photo credit: © Getty Images/Jacob Ammentorp Lund
